Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: Collecting Out of State debt

Whether you can sue someone in California generally depends on where the defendant lived at the time the debt was incurred. If the defendant lived in California, you probably will be able to sue him in California. The problem becomes one of being able to serve the complaint on the defendant. In addition, even if you obtain a judgment, you still must collect the judgment. If your defendant lives in another state, that generally means having your judgment "domesticated" in the defendant's state. In order to do this, you will need to hire an attorney in that state, and it may cost you significantly more than your judgment is worth.